Signing Into Darkness
by Eventidea
Summary: Riannon’s life was practically perfect, even if she was born deaf, until her parents die in a car accident she is left to the mercy of her resentful brother. One night she runs away and is hit by a car. What will she do when she wakes in Middle Earth?
1. Life As We Know It

Riannon's life was practically perfect. She was born deaf but had a supportive family and was taught to sign and read lips. She was an amazing gymnast and received a good education. There was the occasional drama surrounding her resentful screw up brother but nothing her parents couldn't handle. When Riannon was twelve and her parents die in a car accident she is left to the mercy of her older brother. Suddenly Riannon finds her life isn't quite so charmed anymore.

One night she runs from her brother when he tries to beat her while drunk but doesn't hear the car coming down the road without it's lights on. What will she do when she wakes up in Middle Earth and is discovered by Elrohir and Elladan and taken back to their home?

Mary Sue read if you like, if you don't then do us all a favor and cry me a river, build a bridge and get over it, don't waste anyone's time whining about how the world isn't perfect because some people write stories you don't like. If you don't like it, then gasp don't read it.

Usual disclaimer: If you recognize it then it's not mine.

I glanced up from my homework as the lights flashed their triple pattern, indicating that someone was at the door. Walking to the door I peek out through the window, but it's only the mailman. I open the door and smile at Eddie; he's been our mailman for as long as I could remember. He smiles back and asks me how I'm doing.

"Fine. How are you?" I sign to him.

"Good," he says, "I have a package from your aunt for you."

"Wonderful, thank you!" I sign

"Have a great day, see you tomorrow." He says

I wave goodbye and take the package inside. I open the package, pleased to see that it's the care package that was due last week. I unpack the box carefully, placing things in piles according to which room they'll end up in. I pull out a Tupperware container filled with chocolate chip cookies and grin. Both Justin and I love chocolate chip cookies, it's one of the few things we have in common. I put the cookies in the kitchen, put half the money in the envelope in the dining room and the other half I stored safely in my hiding place. My brother would only use it to buy drugs if he had access to it.

I felt the front door slam from the other end of the house. "Speak of the devil," I sign to myself. I walk into the kitchen and hit the start button on the microwave. Then I begin heaping food onto my own plate, hoping my brother has the patience to wait for the minute that it will take his food to heat up. Luck seems to be with me, the timer ends and I remove the steaming leftovers. Grabbing the silverware Justin will need I set everything on the coffee table in front of him. I return to the kitchen and heat my own dinner up before returning to my homework in the dining room. Half way through my dinner I feel Justin stamping on the floor to get my attention. I get up and take his dishes back into the kitchen, I take 6 cookies out to save for myself and bring the rest in for Justin.

I inwardly sigh in relief when he heads back towards his bedroom, for tonight I was safe.


	2. Broken

The following day was not going well, I was late getting to school, which forced me to stay after school, in turn making me late for work which my boss was not happy about. The family I was teaching to sign with each other was having a bad day as well and so their deaf child Sara threw a fit. When I got home I found that Justin had been home at some point and left a mess in not only the kitchen but the living room, hallway, and laundry room as well. When the house was finally clean again I had to start dinner and my homework.

Justin came home ten minutes early and was in a foul mood as well, he overturned a measuring cup containing lemon juice so that it spilt all down my front. Cursing him in my head I went to change, discovering that I needed to do laundry so my only clean clothes were my summer clothes. I changed into shorts and a t-shirt and pounded back down the stairs to finish dinner. The meal was 5 minutes late getting on the table due to the necessary clothes change. I knew what was coming after dinner, Justin was pissed off and that meant he would beat me; he wouldn't dare touch my face or hands, those would be noticeable. I cleaned up after dinner and started my laundry then nervously went back to my homework. To my surprise Justin stays in his room instead of taking his wrath out on me as he usually would. When I was 12 my parents were killed in a car accident, since then I'd been left to my screw up resentful older brother, he thought our parents loved me more than they loved him and hated me for it.

After I finish my homework I sneak a look into my brother's room as I pass by but he's just on the computer. I switch my laundry over to the dryer and take a quick shower before getting ready for bed. I bless the gods as I get into bed for keeping Justin from me this night. As I drift off to sleep I think that maybe this wasn't such a bad day after all.

Suddenly I'm awake and I feel something cold run along my cheek. My eyes shoot open and I stare, shocked, at Justin above me. He has one of the kitchen knives and is running the side along my throat and face. The light from the full moon illuminates his maniac face and I can read his lips as he starts talking to me.

"So, you thought you'd gotten away tonight did you? Well, I thought I'd just let you get more later, that is now really." He laughed. "I found your hiding spot, the one where you'd been keeping the money hidden away. You thought you'd get away with that did you? You were wrong. Very wrong! Now you are going to have to pay me back and I'm going to extract my payment tonight; stupid, spoiled, arrogant, thieving bitch! You take my parents, and now my money? You will pay, and pay dearly."

I try to get up but he pushes me back down and holds the blade to my neck. I feel the sharp edge against the skin on my throat and lie back. I know that if I try to get away he will kill me; he'd gone crazy at some point today, absolutely crazy. Justin proceeds to beat my chest black and blue, making it painful to breathe. Wheezing I stare up at him through my tears, he looked happy but still wild. Justin gets up and walks to the window, I wrap my arms over my ribs protectively, wincing at the movement; suddenly Justin strides back to my bed and grabs one of my arms. I gasp as the motion wrenches my abdomen. Justin brings the knife down on my arm, leaving a deep gash in its place. I stare in astonishment; he'd never done that before. He proceeds to create four more cuts on that arm, and then another six on my other arm. Then he starts madly clawing at my pajamas; he slits through the cloth and drags them off of me. He tears his pants off and I close my eyes in horror. As he shoves himself into me I feel myself scream. Pain ripples through my body and I sob. I can feel him grunting as he moves in and out; I simply lie there sobbing. Eventually he removes himself and my sobbing lessens with the ebbing of the pain. Thinking he was done I opened my eyes, only to see him pick up the knife once again. I close my eyes again, hoping he would just kill me now. I feel him create three slashes along my stomach and two on each leg. Then… nothing. I open my eyes but don't see him anywhere. My mind runs over what just happened and I break, I sobbed until I was exhausted and then I simply stared at nothing in shock, until eventually I slept.


	3. Lost

I was dreaming, because I can't be 17 and sit in the morgue with my parents' bodies.

"You killed them you know," said a voice in my head. A vision of Justin flashed before my eyes.

"You did it, you brought this on yourself."

My parents sat up on the morgue tables, their blank eyes staring at me.

"Why did you kill us?" they signed in unison.

"No, no, no, I'm dreaming. I didn't kill my parents; I didn't bring this on myself. I'm dreaming." I thought to myself. I shut my eyes and willed the nightmare to go away.

When I opened my eyes I saw nothing, it was pitch black. A voice right next to my ear, that whispered and shouted as one, spoke to me.

"I can't wake up!"

I shot up in my bed, terrified and drenched in sweat. I looked out the window and saw that it was mid-morning. My alarm hadn't gone off and I was late to school. Damn it I thought violently. Swinging my legs out of bed my head spins when I see the blood that has stained the sheets and my skin.

Suddenly I'm hit with everything that happened in the night. I had forgotten somehow. Maybe this is why I had nightmares, I thought giddily. I stare at the mess that my body has become and start giggling madly. I fall over on the floor and am struck with a sharp pain; this causes me to giggle even harder. Suddenly I realize that everything hurts. Everything in my body and my mind, my mad giggles turn into great sobs that rack my body with even more pain.

I feel something drop onto the floor and I freeze, my eyes flickering to and fro trying to spot the origin of the motion. The sudden realization that Justin may still be in the house strikes me and my mind staggers with the fear that strikes me. Suddenly feeling nauseous I run to the bathroom, I make it in just in time before my stomach rebels and I bring up what little food was left in my stomach. I wince and raise my shirt to view the damage. My chest looks like a sunrise, bruises of all colors are spread out in various places. Most of my chest is black or blue, I'm afraid Justin might have bruised or fractured a couple of my ribs.

Gathering my courage I check the house to make sure it's empty. Finding no one in the house except my self I turn on the shower, steam soon starts to fill the small bathroom. I whimper as I take of my shirt, my muscles screaming in protest. Stepping into the shower I hiss as hot water pours over the cuts on my body, I quickly turn the water down so that it's not as hot. Still the cuts burn as the water courses over them. I stare at the soap, unsure if I can bring myself to clean the cuts. I remember how Justin had used me and make up my mind. Grabbing the soap I thoroughly scrub every inch of my body three times over. I whine whenever the soap passes over any of the cuts or bruises.

I carefully dry off with a towel, gently patting down the tender areas that had sustained injury. Pulling out the medical supplies from under the sink I doctor my cuts the best I can. I grimace when I think of having to explain to my coaches why I can't do anything in gymnastics for quite some time.

I go through my now clean laundry and find the loosest gentle clothing that I can and pull it on. Knowing it was far past the time I should be at work I instead decide to eat something and then I just sat, staring, not knowing what to do.

How could this happen? Why? Why me?

I feel the front door slam and I jump, suddenly noticing that it's already dark; Justin's home. He stumbles into the dining room and glares at me.

"You stupid whore, now look what you've done to me" he says, he speech looked a lot like it does when he was stoned, except he never felt this hostile when he was. He staggered towards me and I froze, he put his face right in mine. "Fuck you," he said. His breathe reeked of alcohol. "I will make you pay for doing this to me bitch."

His words break whatever was keeping me frozen in place. I bolt out of the dining room, running as fast as I can towards the front door without thinking. I can feel his footsteps heavily pounding behind me. I shove at the door, my hands fumbling on the handle and my panic increases as I can feel his steps getting near. Racing out the front door I blindly run forward, something moving at the corner of my sight attracts my attention. The car I didn't see is too close to stop, thankfully I pass out as it hits me.


	4. Found

My mind slowly drifted into awareness; I felt like an elephant had stood on me, maybe if I just lay still I'd drift back into unconsciousness. I didn't get my wish but sleep did bless me with its presence for a time. The ground pounding woke me, I dragged my eyes open to see what was happening. A bright scene of forest and blue sky filled my vision. I blinked sluggishly, but the scene didn't change. My eyes roved around looking for some sign of the road I had been on, some person checking to see if I was alive, Justin coming to kill me, anything. All that greeted my wandering eyes was forest. I turned my head looking to my right, still more forest spread out before me. I turned my head and looked toward my left and immediately jumped up… or tried to. My body didn't quite respond as it usually would, I sort of half got up before falling over again. The horses coming towards me from the left were almost sure not to see me. They were the pounding that had woken me from slumber.

The pounding on the ground slowed; I turned to look again and saw that they were riding horses. On each horse was a person with long hair, they wore riding clothes of blue and looked amazingly graceful. I managed to sit up, but only barely; every inch of my being was screaming in protest. The riders came to a halt about ten feet from me. They dismounted and I got a better look at them. They were the same person… or twins I suppose. They seemed unusually tall and beautiful… especially for guys.

One of them says something, to my dismay I can't understand it. It doesn't look like English at all. I stare at him blankly.

"Are you alright lady?" he says.

I sigh in relief, at least I haven't forgotten how to read lips by some trick of the mind. I shake my head, I'm anything but all right, but I could be worse.

I flex my fingers and grimace, they're sore but nothing there is broken at least.

"Can you sign?" I ask them.

Now they were the ones to stare uncomprehending. Damn.

"What happened to you that you have come to be so injured?" One of them asks.

I run my hand through my hair and wince finding a large lump on the back of my head. I mimic the motion of writing to them in hopes that they will have something I can write with to communicate with them. They shake their heads.

"Cannot you speak lady?"

I shake my head and tap my ear a couple times.

"You cannot hear?"

I nod, then struck with an idea I attempt to clear some of the ground in front of me so that I can write in the dirt as I did when I was a little girl.

"Riannon." I write in the dirt. I point to the word and then to myself nodding at them.

"Your name is Riannon?" One of them asks.

I nod, my neck starting to ache with all the movement.

"If you cannot hear us then how can you know what we are saying?" One of them asks.

I erase my name in the dirt and write in the same spot. "Read lips."

Then I do the sign for lip reading, and then I point at the word and repeat the sign again.

"I think I understand." The other one says.

I erase the dirt and rewrite my name. I make sure they are both paying attention and then I sign "My name" and point to my name. I point at the twins and repeat the sign name and then sign what; hoping they can grasp what I mean.

They think for a minute before one of them says, "You want to know our names?"

I nod and smile.

"My name is Elrohir and this is my twin brother Elladan." He says.

I smile again and wave hello.

"How did you come to be hurt lady?" Elladan asks.

I point to my name and glare at them. Then I erase it and write "Car Accident."

They look at me confused. "What is a… car?"

I blink dumbfounded. They don't know what a car is.

I quickly clear a larger space of dirt and feverishly write, "Where am I?"

"You are in the forest outside of Imladris."

I erase the dirt and write over it again. "Where is that?"

"The elven lands in Middle Earth."

Elves, Middle Earth, as in Tolkien? Damn, I really have lost my mind, or I'm dead. Actually come to think of it there's a pretty high chance that I'm dead; between Justin and the car anyways, it's better than where I used to be.

"Can you help me? Please?"

"We will take you back to Imladris where our healers can attend to your wounds." Elrohir says, "Can you stand?"

I shake my head; sitting up was almost too much for me.

"Then I will have to carry you, it's not far from here." Elrohir says.

He walked over to me, and I suddenly realized that I did not know this tall man at all. I was alone, lost, and hurt in the woods and two complete strangers were about to take me to who knows where. I shied away from him suddenly paranoid.

"What is wrong milady?" Elrohir asks, his eyebrows creased with concern.

I think for a minute and come to the conclusion that they are my best chance of getting out of this forest alive, besides they can't do much worse than my own brother had.

"Nothing," I sign shaking my head, and then realizing that he wouldn't understand me I write the word in the dirt. He frowns but then carefully picks me up, one hand under my legs and one on my back. I flinch as the movement causes pain to flare up throughout my body.

"Sorry," he says. Then he sets off in the direction from whence he came, Elladan following with the two horses.

After 15 minutes or so of the monotonous walking I was fighting to keep my eyes open. I was losing the battle and soon was again asleep.


	5. Physical Healing

Thank you guys for the awesome reviews so far, it encourages me to keep writing and updating.

Big thanks to savejonny who pointed out that I was switching tenses. I'll edit my previous chapters for tense errors soon.

Someone was staring at me, I could feel it; I opened my eyes to see a man watching me.

"Who are you?" I signed.

He looked confused and beckoned to someone outside my visual range. I turned my head to see Elrohir walk over. That's when I noticed that I was lying down on a bed. It wasn't really a bed so much as it was a padded table, like what they have in the nurse's office at school. I carefully sat up, still very aware of the fact that a car recently hit me. I mimicked the sign for writing; the other man produced some from a table in the room and handed it to me.

"Who is he?" I wrote on the paper and showed it to Elrohir.

"My father, Elrond," he said, "He is a healer here in Imladris."

Elrond taped me on the shoulder to get my attention; I turn and look at him, my eyebrows raised in question.

"I need to examine you to discover the extent of your injuries. Then I need to treat them so that you can begin healing." He explained to me.

I nodded slowly, still unsure of how much to trust these people. Elrohir carefully pushed me back to lie down; I looked at him, searching his eyes for something I could trust.

"Do not worry," he said.

Gently Elrond prodded and poked checking the extent of the bruising, cuts, and scrapes I had received. I watched his every move, flinching occasionally when something would flare up at a particular poke or prod. Once I went so far as to force his hand away when he was examining a cut on my abdomen that coincided with a particularly nasty bruise. He didn't react with anger, as I would have expected; he simply took my hands and laid them at my sides sympathetically before returning to his inspection with a bit more care.

"How did you come to be injured in such a fashion, if I may inquire?" Elrond asked me.

I shook my head; I didn't want to explain that my own brother hated me and had ruined what little life I had left.

Elrond nodded in acceptance of my answer and picked up wet rag. He meticulously began to clean the cuts that Justin had so carelessly created.

He finished cleaning the cuts on my arms and chest and started cleaning the ones on my legs. I suddenly noticed that I was practically naked; how did I not notice before?

I was still wearing my bra, and underwear, other than that my clothes were gone. I felt myself blush and I closed my eyes, commanding my skin to return to its normal color.

Someone tapped me on the shoulder, I opened my eyes; Elrohir looked concerned as he asked me if I was okay.

I nodded but winced when Elrond dug out a piece of dirt that was buried deeply in one of the cuts.

Elrond finished cleaning out the cuts and put some sort of strong smelling liquid on a few of the cuts. He picked up a small object from a table that I couldn't really see, then he came back over to me and I realized what he was going to do. I yanked my arm away from where he was and grabbed Elrohir's hand.

"It's alright, I'm not going to hurt you." Elrond said. He gently picked up my arm and laid it back down at my side.

I took a deep breath and shut my eyes, still holding onto Elrohir's hand.

I felt the needle pierce my skin but it didn't hurt nearly as much as I thought it would. The liquid he used must have been some sort of numbing agent. I focused completely on my breathing and Elrohir's hand, willing myself to remain still while Elrond worked. After he stitched up a few of the cuts Elrond applied some sort of salve to all of them and bandaged them. I released Elrohir's hand, blushing quietly. He looked down at me with understanding in his eyes.

Elrond finished working on the cuts and smeared a different balm onto my bruises. He had me drink a foul tasting concoction while Elrohir covered me with a blanket; then they both left, saying that I should get some sleep.


	6. Teacher

Sorry for the long time it took to update, life's a bit crazy at the moment.

I groaned when I woke up, my entire body was stiff and sore; knowing what I could do to help loosen my muscles up I got out of bed. I found the clothes that I had been wearing; they were washed clean and folded upon a chair. I got dressed and set about doing my stretching routine. My flexibility was only half of what it normally was; I stretched everything but didn't try pushing any of it.

I examined the bruising on my body and decided that whatever Elrond had put on them was helping drastically. I normally heal fast but some of the lighter bruising was already half healed. I sat on the edge of the bed for a minute wondering what to do. As if on cue the door opened to reveal Elrohir and Elrond. Elrond brought more medicines with him while Elrohir was carrying a plate of food. Seeing the food I felt my stomach rumble.

"Are you hungry?" Elrohir asked, offering the plate to me.

I nodded and took the plate; I barely glanced at what was on the plate before I started eating. While I was eating Elrond went about setting up his medical supplies and brought out a pen and paper. Once I was done eating Elrohir set the plate on a table while Elrond got my attention.

"I am going to check your injuries today and change your bandages."

I nodded my consent and understanding to him. Once again I endured Elrond's tedious assessment of my cuts and bruises. He applied more pungent slaves and ointments to them; I wrinkled my nose at the overwhelming smell.

"If you would like, I could supply you with some reading materials to help pass the time while you are healing. Perhaps when my father declares you well enough, I could give you a tour of the palace grounds." Elrohir said.

"I would like that." I signed to him, momentarily forgetting that he was ignorant of my language.

"What are those gestures you are continuously utilizing?" Elrohir asked me, a curious look upon his face.

I picked up the paper and began to scribble an answer to his question.

The gestures I am using are a language that I use since I do not know how to speak. My language is called Sign Language. Each sign represents a word or concept, which I can use to communicate with others who understand Sign.

"I am a scholar of sorts; I would be interested in learning this language of signs, if you would be inclined to teach me." Elrohir said after reading my reply.

I smile, a willing and interested student always learns faster than one who is only learning out of necessity.

"I will teach you," I signed to him. Then I wrote a translation on the paper.

It seemed that I would continue to teach sign in this world instead of my own. It would be nice to have someone to talk with whom I didn't have to write everything down for.

Sorry for the short chapter, had a bit of writers block that I have to work past.


	7. Changes

Thank you all for the reviews, I'm sorry the updates aren't as frequent as I'd like them to be, but I'm trying.

Over the next week I spent most of my time in a bed in one of Elrond's healing rooms. A daily routine of stretching, bandage changing and breakfast came about. After that I would either immerse myself in a book that Elrohir had let me borrow or would teach Elrohir the basics he would need to learn to sign with me.

I taught him the manual alphabet; he seemed to be fascinated with the variety of hand shapes that had been created. I explained that sign was a four dimensional language, holding many advantages over spoken languages, which are only three-dimensional.

Sign not only uses the three spatial dimensions, length, height, and width, but also uses time, which allows for complex concepts to be conveyed much more quickly and clearly than is capable in a three dimensional language.

Elrohir soaked up my knowledge like a sponge does water. He was one of the fastest adult studies I'd ever taught. I seemed to be healing as quickly as Elrohir was learning; I soon began to push myself again while stretching; it felt nice to start getting my full flexibility again. At the end of the week I decided that I could start practicing again.

The next morning after I had eaten breakfast I asked Elrohir if I could have a tour of the grounds. He agreed, eager to learn signs for the objects around his home. During our expedition I must have shown Elrohir over two dozen new signs; he seemed enthralled by the variety of gestures I used. While we were out and about I looked for a nice flat area that I could practice gymnastics in. I found an even expanse of ground near the practice grounds where, as Elrohir explained, he and his brother practiced hand-to-hand combat as well as sword and staff fighting. I thought about the path from my room to the practice grounds and committed it to memory.

Elrohir showed me the dining room and kitchen, as well as the archery range, the gardens, and the many corridors of rooms and libraries contained within numerous long hallways. He introduced me to countless people we ran into throughout the day. All of the elves we ran into were more beautiful than books could ever describe. By the end of the day I was feeling very short and very mundane. I forcefully shoved the feelings out of my mind.

The following morning I walked the path from my room to the practice grounds, perfectly remembering every turn. I stood for a moment spellbound watching the elves practice combat. Their movement was swift but also perfectly timed, graceful, and purposeful. I shook myself from the rapture and commenced my series of stretches. I began with simple tumbling, stand – drop – roll – stand again, easy. So I moved on to backwards rolls from standing, also easy. I was amazed how easily my body remembered the movements after such a beating. I went through cartwheels, back handsprings, forward handsprings, and a number of other aerial moves. Confident that my body was recovering I began an old routine. I went slowly at first, but sped up over time until I was flashing through the air and over the ground like I had done in the gymnasium. Once finished I stood breathing hard, it was more taxing than it would have been if I had been fully recovered and in practice. I looked around and found the elves watching me. I blushed, turning a shade of bright red I'm not sure if I had ever accomplished before.

I retreated from my practice area and back to my room, safe from the stares of all those people. I changed into some clean clothes that had appeared in my room at some point during my practice. Then I snatched a book off the bedside table and buried myself in it, hoping no one would bother me until my nerves had settled again. I hated being watched, I hated being stared at by anyone now. I used to enjoy the looks of awe I'd receive from any audience; but since that night I loathed any sort of attention I acquired.

I set the book aside, my thoughts returned to that night. I hadn't let myself think about it for a while now. I dropped from my chair to the floor and curled up. I felt so dirty, so violated and used. My own blood had branded me not worthy of life or love. Tears slid down my face and I watched them drip onto the wooden floors; they lay there, a tribute to my pain and sadness.

I had tried to keep thoughts of that night out of my mind, but they would force themselves upon me just as my brother had. It was like being raped by my own mind, I wasn't safe anywhere. I slammed my hand onto the floor; it stung, turning my palm red. I stared at the red surface of my palm, watching the color slowly blend into its natural pale tone.

I took a deep breath and attempted to calm my mind. Managing the feat I stood up and wiped the tears from my face; then I sat back down in the chair and picked up my book once again.


End file.
